13 hours ago
2
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
The Philippine President says details ‘need to be worked out’ even as he confirms zero tariffs on several ‘major areas,’ including on US automobiles, after a meeting at the White House
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday, July 22, framed negotiations with the United States on trade as a “signifcant achivement” even though only one percentage point was shaved off the 20% tariff that was meant to kick in on August 1, 2025.
“Well, that’s how negotiations go. We came here, when we arrived in Washington, tariff rates were 20. So, why it came up from 17 to 20 is an internal matter with the United States government,” Marcos told reporters in Washington DC after a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.
Marcos was in the US capital from July 20 to 22 — a week before his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) — to negotiate a 20% rate that Trump announced amid negotiations to lower a previously announced 17% “reciprocal” tarrif.
“The number that we had to work on was 20. So, we tried very hard to see what we can do. And we managed the one percent decrease in tariff rates,” added Marcos.
After Marcos’ meeting with Trump, the White House released a joint statement on a newly-negotiated the US-Indonesia trade agreement which set tariffs on Indonesian products at 19%, and eliminated “approximately 99 percent of tariff barriers for a full range of U.S. industrial and U.S. food and agricultural products exported to Indonesia.”
At 19%, the Philippines still has among the lowest rates in the region — a point Marcos’ economic managers tried to highlight even when the rate was at 17%. That “bright side” in Trump’s unilateral tariffs have meant little to experts who’ve criticized the rates as arbitrary and detrimental for the western superpower in the long-run.
‘Open market’ for the US
Still, Marcos, the first Southeast Asian president to get face time in the Oval Office, seemed self-aware that the 1-percentage point drop “might seem like a very small concession” but insisted that “in real terms, it is a significant achievement.”
“There is more to be spoken about with the United States concerning that the tariff rates and our trade deals,” Marcos said.
In exchange, the US gets an “open market” in the Philippines.
A one-way free trade agreement of sorts had been something American negotiators were pushing for, even when negotiations were happening for the earlier 17% rate, Rappler learned from sources.
“There were certain markets that they asked to be opened that are presently right now are not open. The one — the major areas that he said were automobiles. Because we have a tariff on American automobiles, we will open that market and no longer charge tariffs on that,” explained Marcos.
The US-Japan trade deal, also announced on July 22, includes lower tariffs on auto imports and brought down tariffs on Japan goods to 15% from 25%.
The US-Philippine deal, the details of which are still bring ironed out, include “increased importation from the United States for soy products, wheat products and pharma,” according to Marcos.
Both Marcos and Trump heaped on the praise for each other during their Oval Office meeting, the first part of which was broadcast live and included a freewheeling press conference with both White House and Malacañang Palace press.
Marcos met with Trump on July 22 (morning in the US, evening in the Philippines) accompanied by Foreign Affairs Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro, Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Secretary of Trade and Investments Christina Roque, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, Acting Presidential Communications Office Secretary Dave Gomez, Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go, and Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez.
Most of Marcos’ Cabinet officials had flown to the US ahead of him, partly to prepare for the meeting. Marcos himself met with US State Secretary Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ahead of the White House meeting.
Hours after the 19% rate was announced, the State Department also made public news that it would allocated “at least” P3 billion or over $60 million in foreign aid “to support energy, maritime, and economic growth programs in the Philippines.”
“This is the US government’s first announcement of new foreign assistance for any country since the Trump Administration began its review and realignment of foreign assistance in January,” read a July 23 release from the US embassy in the Philippines.
Of the P3 billion, said the embassy, P825 million or $15 million is meant to “catalyze private sector development in the Luzon Economic Corridor,” a project that was first announced under the previous Biden administration.
If US Congress approves the funding, it will be used to “support investments in the areas of transport, logistics, energy, and semiconductors that will help create jobs and drive economic growth in the country.”
The US had earlier announced P500 million in foreign military financing to help modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine Coast Guard. – Rappler.com
